Sunday, April 20, 2014

Another New Project!?

All,

What can I say, I'm being the typical wargamer with "ooh, shiny" syndrome. So I've got tons and tons of 10mm stuff in multiple periods, then my wife gets pregnant and I decide I want to go with small board stuff, so I broaden my 10mm skirmish forces and pick up a bunch of new 3mm stuff. My 3mm stuff is taking awhile to paint, and I need more of it, and the 10mm skirmish stuff is cool but I came up with another idea, so what do I do? I order some new stuff in a new scale.

So what did I do? I went and got me some 6mm (1/285) stuff from GHQ. My intent is thus: I'm going back in time to show sort of (what we would call in the United States) a National Guard-type unit from the former Soviet Union, specifically the Odessa area of the Ukraine. I think I'm going to start circa 1988, the Soviet-Afghan war is winding down, but this Odessa-territorial unit gets thrown into the mix, specifically with the idea that the war is not going well but the Soviets are throwing a last ditch effort, and so the Odessians(?) get thrown into very heavy fighting in the Panjshir Valley.

Then I'm wanting to fight a revolution/civil war-type deal, and I believe the plan is to go at it from the breakup of the Soviet Union, specifically the idea that the Ukrainian gov't is too pro-Soviet and helps bring Transdniestria back into line when it takes its shot at independence. The veteran military leadership of the Odessa unit wants independence and takes its shot, which ends up at war with the Ukraine.

For the first portion, I bought the "Al-Qaeda/Taliban" Combat Command, a set of BTR-70s, an Mi-24 Hind-E, Modern German Infantry (I like the poses, they're going to be my home team), Modern Third World Regulars, and Modern Third World Heavy Weapons (some of the hvy wpns are going for my Odessa unit, the rest of the modern infantry are going to be my pro-Soviet guys). I still have a bunch of infantry unpainted, and I have five T-72s and five BMP-2s that are primed but not finished.

This is the whole force for the early portion, the Soviet-Afghan War. "Good Guys," AKA, the Soviets (never thought I'd say that, but this is only wargaming) are at bottom and bad guys, AKA, the Mujaheddin, are at the top. Both sides have a a boatload of infantry and numerous vehicles. The Soviets also have a Hind.

The Soviets: bunch of infantry, four T-55s, four BMP-1s, five BTR-70s, a BMP with ZU-23, one GAZ truck with ZU-23, one GAZ truck with MLRS, and two other GAZ trucks with canvas tilts. Oh, and a Hind.

The Mujaheddin, with a bunch of infantry, two quad-14.5mm HMGs, and eight pickup trucks. Five of the trucks have a single 14.5mm HMG, two have 107mm MLRS launchers, and one has a ZU-23 mount.

The Mi-24 Hind E, in all its bad-assness...

Four T-55s. You're probably wondering why I have only four tanks and they're all painted different colors (and why I haven't spot-fixed that damned track on the bottom right tank); well, I'm going to be playing skirmish rules, and I like my stuff to have some character. Sorry I don't have a better reason...

Four BMP-1s, also with each painted differently. Now, you will notice that they match the tanks, so I can make matching little battle groups with a tank, a BMP, a BTR, and a truck.

The BTRs, sorry the pic is so shiny. You'll note that I have five BTRs, so there is an odd-man out with a different camo scheme that is matched only by a GAZ truck.

Miscellaneous vehicles, painted up to match little battle groups. A BMP carrying a ZU-23, a GAZ carrying an MLRS, a GAZ carrying a ZU-23, and two unarmed GAZ trucks.

Some "Soviet" infantry (using the Modern Germans; I like them, so get over it!). These paint up quick and like a champ, basing was pretty easy too. Because I'm going to be using these for modified KR-16 rules, I believe I'm going to call the below pic a platoon, i.e., two-five man squads with a platoon commander. Yes, I know in real life this is a squad of two fireteams, but to make more sense for my overall campaign I'm going to make them platoons. I'm not going to track every single man/vehicle, only leaders, so platoon commanders and above. Each battle I will put on the table a company battle group (need to come up with a snappy name for it), and that should work with a real life squad equaling a platoon.

Some heavy weapons, left to right: ATGM, MMG, and 81mm mortar.

Anti-Air assets.

Leadership.

Mujaheddin vehicles and HMGs.

Infantry, with Stinger, RPG, and UGL at head (top) of each "squad." There's only one Stinger in the whole force, but there are two quad HMGs and a ZU-23 to help counter the Hind.

Well, that's the force. I apologize, I really thought I would get some fights in this weekend, but in the end I was being unrealistic as to how busy everything was with Easter being this weekend (Happy Easter, all). I have some buildings on the way, so hopefully this gives me some time to get them ready for next weekend.

HistoryPhD, in real life the camo is quite a bit less gaudy looking, I'm just not a very good picture taker and the flash throws things off, which really shows on the pics of the BTRs.

Shaun, yes, my 'side' projects are in danger of taking over my life! I'm certainly no 'show-room' modeller/painter, but I will say these were pretty easy to get done up pretty quick. Just need to get them on the table.